Page 12 of Melody’s Little Secret

“I brought your favorite skirt, the gold one.”

“I love you.” Her gorgeous golden-colored skirt with mesh overlay had pretty stars sprinkled on it. It immediately made me feel younger, but it was trendy enough for me to wear without being obvious.

Laney giggled. “I love you more! We are going to be just fine, and tonight we’ll dress up and go have the yummiest dinner. I’ll even do your hair.”

“Thanks, bestie.”

With a happy plan in my heart, I pushed away the negative gunk trapped in my head. The truth was I’d let a lot of things slip including any sort of self-care. I didn’t want Laney to see how messed up things were. She had enough crap on her own plate, she didn’t need to deal with mine.

We both needed Daddies, eventually. Maybe Hopevale would become our happily ever after after all.

Chapter Six

Melody

With my hair all done up and dressed to impress in Laney’s cute golden skirt with my soft, white scoop-collar tee-shirt, denim jacket and ivory combat boots, I felt like a million bucks. It was the perfect balance of cute and punky. Giggling, we strolled down the sidewalk arm in arm chatting about nothing and everything. My heart felt so full with my best friend at my side. Entering the restaurant together, we simultaneously inhaled. The yummy scents wafting from the kitchen made my mouth water. They were the opposite of the ones in my store. Savory instead of sweet.

“Hello,piccola,” Bosco greeted me with a warm smile. “I see you’ve returned, and you brought a friend. Are you feeling better today?”

“You invited the two of us here. Why are you surprised to see us?”

“You are always welcome here, of course, but I did not invite you here tonight.” Bosco frowned.

I had enough of the nonsense and threw my hands over my head. My right foot stomped twice before I could control it. I was entering a full on Little hissy fit. I probably looked foolish, but I just didn’t care anymore. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

Apparently my cursing at the handsome man in front of me pushed his patience over the edge. He rounded the counter, closing the distance between us. Bosco pinched my chin between his thumb and pointer finger, lifting it to meet his gaze.

“Melody.” A deep rumbly voice spoke up. “I see you’ve met my brother, Enzio.”

Darting my eyes to the doorway of the kitchen, an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment fluttered through my tummy. I stared at Bosco for a moment then reluctantly directed my attention back to the man inches away from me whom I’d been calling Bosco in my mind. I hadn’t been talking to Bosco at all. Nope. Not only did he have a brother, but Enzio was his identical twin.

“I… umm… I’m really sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I thought you were him and he was you. I mean, I thought you were the same person. I mean…. you look like the same person.”

“I can think of a few ways to settle this,piccola.”

“Cleaning tables?” I asked hopefully.

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “You can start there.”

What if they were both angry with me? I royally messed up. I had been rude to both of them when neither of them had given me any reason to do so.

“Let’s sit down, Mel. I want mozzarella sticks and gooey cheesy garlic bread.” Laney tried to bring my focus to food since I’d confessed how hungry I was earlier but that was no longer important. I was mortified and I needed to get out of that restaurant more than I needed my next breath.

Enzio released his hold on me, stepping back to allow me to calm down.

“I need a moment.” My lower lip trembled as I turned, flung open the front door and raced down the sidewalk. “I’ll be right back.”

“Melody!” Bosco called after me, but I wasn’t stopping for anything. I needed time and space to sort myself out. I considered heading home, but my apartment didn’t hold any allure at the moment, so I changed direction and headed toward the park.

Any hopes of pursuing Bosco crumbled with each step I took. The physical distance I was creating was a symbol in my mind of the emotional distance I needed to protect myself. He would never understand why my brain was constantly in fight-or-flight mode. Even though I had a pretty normal childhood, some ex-boyfriends of mine were awful. They cheated on me. Broke my trust. Betrayed me. It was one of the many reasons I had been single the past two years. I made a promise to myself to focus on leveling up in life so that no matter what I chose to do, I was financially stable on my own. Becoming a boss babe, pouring all my time and energy into my bakery was a necessity, not an option. I was done with men who pretended to be my dominant partner just to control me and use my needs against me. What if Bosco was just like the others? I didn’t want to get tangled up in that again no matter how attractive his forearms were. No. It wasn’t fair to pin my insecurities on the sexy pizza maker, but I was feeling overwhelmed and running always jumped to the forefront of my mind as the easiest way to escape my thoughts.

“Slow down!” Bosco yelled from somewhere behind me, startling me out of my thoughts. I turned to see him pursuing me. “There’s construction work being done on that part of the—”

I didn’t care what he had to say, nothing mattered. I quickened my steps as I continued my escape. After two steps, I was flying through the air, and before I knew it, I was hitting the pavement hard, adding heaps of embarrassment on top of my already awful evening. I’d seen the ripped-up sidewalk on the way to the restaurant and purposefully stepped around it earlier, but in my need to get away, I forgot. It was just another thing in the huge pile of “things” I kept forgetting. Tonight was supposed to be fun. We were supposed to get everything out in the open. Instead, I had screwed it all up.

Bosco jogged over and knelt next to me. “Are you okay,dulcita?”

Splayed out on the concrete, I took stock of my body. My knees hurt badly along with my wrist, but my focus was more on him than any physical pain that I may be feeling. “I’m not sure. What did you call me?”

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